While on his way to meet Mary Jane for dinner at a seafood restaurant on the
east side of Manhattan, Spider-Man is attacked by the Trapster. The various
projectile weapons used by Trapster (paste, grease, gum-balls) prove to be more
than Spider-Man can handle as he finds himself coated in paste and falling
through the skylight of his destination.

As the paste hardens, he sees MJ out of his unobstructed eye and stumbles
toward her in some effort to ask for help and ends up falling through a window
into the East River. After he touches bottom, he manages to shatter his casing
and resurface. Thankful to be alive, he heads home with a grateful Mary Jane
close behind.

Across town, the Kingpin is offered an invitation to join the Acts of
Vengeance campaign. He is taken to the central meeting location where he sees
the elite crowd of Dr. Doom, Magneto, and the Wizard. The Trapster has
contacted them to inform them that he killed Spider-Man. Kingpin refuses to
believe such a claim without proof. Furious at his treatment, Trapster agrees
to get the proof the Kingpin requres.

We cut to Philadelphia where Joe Robertson is attending an appeal hearing
for his prison sentence. His recent - and unwilling - participation in a
prison break lessens his chance of receiving a commuted or reduced sentence.
Stuart McPhee the brother of Lemuel "Brusier" McPhee, whom Joe befriended in
prison before his murder arrives at the hearing to inform his family of the
potential for a presidential pardon.

At ESU Peter is working side-by-side with Dr. Max Lubisch on his mysterious
extra-dimensional energy source project. His suspicious answers to Peter's
precautionary questions leave Peter feeling less comfortable working with him.
As the experiment progresses, the analysis machine begins to overload the
electrical grid. Peter notices this but Lubisch couldn't care less. Peter's
spider-sense goes off in time to push Lubisch out of the path of an incoming
energy blast, taking the full brunt himself.

After taking a moment to check on the unconscious Lubisch, Peter notices
some changes as a result of his exposure to the energy field. Looking out the
window, he sees downed power lines threatening students. He changes to Spider-
Man with the intention of securing the loose wires. When a power line twists
toward a group of students, he instinctively reaches out for the wire. In what
should have been his final act of heroism, he - and all watching - are amazed
that Spider-Man is still alive. Spider-Man leaves to assess his new lease on
life.

He finds that not only his strength has been enhanced, but also his hearing
and spider-sense have also been augmented. He can now hear a spider walking on
a window two blocks away, a dripping faucet in the chemistry lab, and Trapster
complaining about fishing Spider-Man's body out of the East River.

In the mood for some payback, Spider-Man quickly finds Trapster and defeats
him using some other new powers. They include the ability to mentally control
his webbing and fire energy bolts from his fingers. He ultimately sets off all
of the glue cartridges on Trapster's bandolier, encasing him in his own paste.

Despite his much deserved victory, the last several minutes have left him in
a state of panic. He's not sure how he knew he had these powers, but he used
them easily.

In General...

I can accept Spider-Man being defeated by Graviton. Clearly that would be a
challenge. But Trapster? He'd give a good fight for a page, but ultimately
Trapster shouldn't pose much of a threat. I can understand being caught by
surprise, but this is a bit extreme.

If Spider-Man had been coated with the adhesive in a mid-air, causing him to
fall into the East River (or allowing Trapster to push him in), I would have
chalked it up to dumb luck and left it alone. However in this case another
approach was chosen.

The "coat him with paste in mid-air and falling" part happened. I can see
where he might fall into the restaurant where he was meeting MJ. But to have
him walk through the restaurant and fall through a window into the river
stretches the believability too much. If he can't move and is suffocating, the
last thing he needs to do is move. Well, move around and cause himself to fall
through a window into the East River. We all know Spider-Man has a lot of
stamina, but this is a ridiculous way to remind us of it.

The issue improved after that opening sequence. I'm of two minds on the
rematch. Part of me is appalled that they would imply Spider-Man needs these
new powers to beat Trapster. The other part is glad that these new powers
weren't put to the test on their first outing. A serious threat might require
a bit more than a mental constructs and low-level energy bolts.

Overall Rating...

2.5 webs. Slightly better than the Graviton issue, but not too much.
Instead of starting out good and working its way down, this issue starts off
bad and redeems itself by the end.

One continuity problem that stuck out at me is the involvement of the
Kingpin. In part 1, Graviton described the Kingpin contacting him to
participate in the AOV campaign. In this issue (part
2), Kingpin is just joining. There's a communication breakdown here.

Once we get past those problems, Conway regains his footing and delivers a
good story.

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